


What Ma-Ma Wants

by hoagie



Category: Dredd (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-08 23:40:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoagie/pseuds/hoagie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life in the Ma-Ma clan is simple, what ever Ma-Ma wants Ma-Ma gets. Set before the events of the film or maybe in an AU, I don't know I just wanted to write something that focuses on the clan and it's leader. (Ma-Ma, Techie, OC with a slight Ma-Ma/Techie thing going on.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I'll be upfront with you guys, I'm working with a limited knowledge of the comics here. I suppose that's not that big of an issue since this is based off the movie and all but I wish I knew more about the world of Judge Dredd. Anyway this one jumps between three different characters, so any time time you see I am the law! that means its switched to another character's perspective, because I had to throw that phrase in here somewhere.

* * *

 

Looking out the window of the top floor of the Peach Trees mega block , Ma-Ma looked down at the never ending urban expanse of Mega City One. From the rotting streets rose the Mega Blocks, each tower a small city in its own right. Above the blocks flew small jet powered drones that functioned as the eyes of the hall of Justice.

"Ma" her second in command Caleb called out to her, but Ma-Ma ignored him and brought an inhaler to her lips. Pressing down on the vial made the painfully cold chemical cocktail rush out and turn to vapor when it collided with the warm air in her mouth. Ma-Ma sucked the mist down into her lungs and almost instantly her perception of time slowed to a crawl. She looked out the window at the aircraft again and watched them float past at a speed that would have never generated enough lift to stay airborne in real time. Thanks to her altered state of consciousness Ma-Ma was able to see details in the drone's design that would have been impossible to see at normal speed. The blue flame that spat out the aircraft's jet engine glowed with a luster that was made all the more intense while she was under the effects of slow-mo.

After twenty seconds that felt like twenty minutes to her, Ma-Ma felt herself coming down from her trip and soon the world returned to normal speed. After the time altering effect, came the euphoric afterglow that Ma-Ma had learned to enjoy every bit as much as the trip.

"Ma" he called out again, this time Ma turned to face Caleb since she felt up to speaking because of her good mood.

"We were talking about expansion."

"The other Mega blocks" she answered coldly, "I want them."

"I don't think that's good idea right now." With obvious annoyance in her voice MA asked "Why, we have a drug that sells faster then we can make it and enough guns for a small army."

"That's true" he responded "but we lost a lot of men taking control of Peach trees, the clan is going to need to find more shooters before we can move on to other blocks."

"A recruitment drive" Ma-Ma asked quizzically.

"I guess you could call it that" Caleb replied.

"Fine, take the boys out and find whoever you can. Try to get them to join voluntarily if you can but if not enough of them join just start grabbing people. There are plenty of ways to keep a conscript in line."

"Right Ma" he answered obediently before he left her room. Alone in her home, Ma-Ma turned back to her window and raised a Slow-Mo inhaler to her lips again.

**I am the law!**

Noah, like countless millions of fighting age males before him had neither a job nor home to go to. Forced to wander the streets, the ex gang soldier knew that the likelihood of finding work was slim but he wasn't keen on starving or ending up in an Iso cube for vagrancy. Finding employment in Mega City One was difficult for everyone but for a man like Noah who bore two different gang tattoos it was next to impossible. Sometimes he missed the days when he was still with a gang but then he remembered how lucky he was to still be alive. His first gang had been nearly wiped out by a competing gang and Noah only survived because he had fled the mega block he used to live in. His second gang had attracted the attention of some judges while he had been out running errands for the boss, by the time Noah had gotten back most of the gang had already faced summary execution.

These experiences had influenced Noah to attempt to find legitimate work but two weeks later he had run out of credits and he began to miss some of the perks of being in a gang, like a place to sleep, a steady supply of drugs, weapons, women, but more than anything he missed food. Noah understood that he had already rolled the dice twice in his short life but starvation was guaranteed to kill him, so reluctantly he decided to roll the dice again and seek a clan looking for new soldiers, Noah just hoped that whatever gang that took him wasn't the end of him.

  
**I am the law**!

It was quiet on the top floor of Peach Trees which meant that the Ma-Ma clan's soldiers had been mobilized and after five months in the clan he knew that Ma-Ma wouldn't send the troops out unless she had something planned. Looking though the incalculable number of security feeds he saw that there were far fewer armed men wandering the halls than usual, not just on the top floor either which was the center of the clan, but throughout the block.

The Ma-Ma clan techie found himself thinking out loud and asked "What the hell is going on?"

"It's a recruitment drive" a female voice answered from behind. The techie nearly jumped out of his chair from fright before he turned round to find Ma-Ma standing just behind him. As if the her incredible potential for violence wasn't terrifying enough, the small woman could be very sneaky. Returning his attention back to the large monitor in front of him, the Techie tried to focus on his job and ignore the potential source of danger standing behind him.

"You know how those go" she spoke softly and close enough to him that he could feel her breath on his neck.

If she was referring to the Ma-Ma clan's method for getting new members than the Techie knew firsthand how it was done. He could remember five months ago when the clan's goons had fought their way down to his old level in Peach Trees. They kicked in the doors of every apartment looking for "volunteers" to help fill their ranks. He remembered that technically he had volunteered but that was after three goons lugging assault rifles had cornered him and asked, so at the time it didn't seem like he had a choice. Ten minutes later they were holding him down while they tattooed the back of his neck and marked him the property of Ma-Ma for the rest of his life.

His first few weeks in the clan were beyond frightening and uncertain, not that his current situation was pleasant but now he had a role to fulfill and that role kept him from being expendable. At first they treated him like any other soldier or enforcer; they gave him a weapon and told him to help expand the clan by shooting rival gang members on sight. The job of solider was a role the Techie was wholly unsuited for, he just didn't have the stomach for fighting and that fact was not lost on Caleb, Ma-Ma's second in command and career criminal.

After a disastrous incident in which the Techie refused to shoot a fleeing gang member in the back, Caleb put a pistol to his head and asked if there was anything he could do to help the clan. The Techie saved his own life by demonstrating how he could splice the wires in an apartment's call box and unlock the door without the owner's consent. It wasn't that useful of a skill since the clan usually just kicked doors in, but Caleb saw the use in someone with more technical skills. Soon after the Techie was in front of Ma-Ma herself pleading his case, he embellished the truth somewhat and explained how with the right equipment he could tap into the Megablock's security feeds and provide the clan with the ability to spy on every floor in Peach Trees. He knew that what he claimed was definitely possible but he didn't really know firsthand how to do so. Still at the time he felt that it was either lie or be killed.

Ma-Ma appeared to like the idea and soon he found himself with his own room on the top floor next to Ma-Ma's own private quarters. They filled his room with an abundance of hardware and within a day the Techie had figured out how to do what he had promised; having his life depend on it was a great motivator. Thanks to the promise he delivered on and the other technical problems the clan turned to him for, he was kept separate and for the most part safe from the rest of the clan and the dirty work they did. Because of this the Techie felt a small amount of loyalty to Ma-Ma, even after the incident with his eyes…he still felt that if it wasn't for her and Caleb he would have been dead a long time ago.

"Anything I should know about" she asked softly next to his ear. She wasn't touching him but he swore she was close enough that he could feel her body heat.

"Uh, no everything looks good" he answered, desperately trying to disguise the fear in his voice.

"Good" said Ma contentedly. For several nervous seconds she lingered behind him before she turned and walked to the door. This time she let him hear her footsteps.

**I am the law!**

"Show me your arms" said the older that called himself Caleb. Noah stretched his fore arms out to display the old gang tattoos on both of his arms.

"What happened to these gangs" Caleb asked next.

"They're dead, I'm not" Noah answered with as much machismo as he could muster. The two gangs he had previously been in were both very masculine and dominance oriented cultures and judging by the Ma-Ma clan soldiers that Noah had seen so far, this new clan wasn't any different despite who their boss was. Caleb nodded his head up and down seemingly satisfied with Noah's answer.

**I am the law!**

Five floors down from the top floor, Ma-Ma leaned against a wall and looked over the large assemblage of her clan. This floor that was clear of apartments and shops had been left open for the residents of Peach Trees to use for recreation; one part of the floor had even once been used as a playground. After Ma-Ma took over, the floor had become a staging area and makeshift armory for the clan.

Caleb had returned from his recruiting drive with roughly 60 new conscripts and brought them to the 195th floor for orientation. Orientation in the Ma-Ma clan included being forcefully tattooed with the Ma-Ma clan tag and then watching the spectacle of Ma-Ma repeatedly stabbing one of the new guys. The stabbing served as an example of what would happen to anyone that disobeyed Ma-Ma or questioned her authority.

Ma-Ma left the unlucky man bleeding to death on the floor while she returned to the wall she had been leaning against and wiped her bloody knife with her shirt. The new recruits stood in stunned silence but the more experienced members of the clan appeared to think nothing of what their leader has just done, especially Caleb who began to organize the new troops into two different groups. The majority of the new guys were still in one large group of around fifty men but five of them had been separated from the rest of the group.

Caleb approached his boss and pointed towards the smaller group of men "Those five actually volunteered, there all ex gangsters and I think we can arm and put them to use right away."

"And the rest of them" Ma-Ma asked.

"Most of them are young, I wouldn't trust them with anything, but we can still put them to use as cannon fodder in an attack."

Ma-Ma let a rare smile form on her lips at the thought of such a brutal tactic and it reminded her why she allowed Caleb so much autonomy. "Alright take the new guys down to Atlantic Tower; the gang there is trying to stop us from selling slow-mo in their block. Kill all the Atlantic gang members you find on the first floor, and make sure to keep it on the first floor, I don't want to start a fucking block war, at least not yet."

Caleb nodded his in response and then lead the large group of men out.

**I am the law!**

After being forcefully inked with Ma-Ma's tag, Noah was lead up close to the top floor where all the clan's new recruits were assembled. This was Noah's first glimpse of the Clan's namesake who true to the rumors had several scars on her face. The scars however were far from the most prominent story floating around the city about her. Many of the cities gangs had heard rumors of what she had done to her former pimp, but until today Noah had never believed it. Two different factors changed Noah's opinion of that story from unlikely to probable; the first was that in what little interaction he had with members of the Ma-Ma clan, he noticed that they treated that rumor as gospel. The second factor was the sight of Ma-Ma stabbing one the new guys, he couldn't have been older than twenty, but she strolled up to him calmly and repeatedly thrust a small knife into his stomach. The young kid had cried out in pain and pleaded for mercy but was given none. To Noah and the four other career criminals that had been separated from the rest of the pack the message was clear, Ma-Ma was in charge and not to be questioned.

With the young man still bleeding to death on the floor, all the new recruits were lead away to another room by Caleb. This room turned out to be the clan's main weapon stash, Noah had seen no shortage of guns in his time, but the stockpile the Ma-Ma clan had on hand was breathtaking. From the floor to the ceiling the room was packed with weapons and ammunition from the last two centuries. Everything was there, from the latest electrically primed assault rifles to ancient turn bolt hunting rifles from the 2oth century.

Much to Noah's liking he and the four other more experienced gangsters were allowed to choose whatever weapons they liked where as the majority of the new comers simply took what Caleb gave them. Noah chose for himself a .223 caliber assault rifle. From the shootouts he had been forced into and survived, Noah had found that the old cartridge from the 2oth century provided excellent power for how light it was. This lightness allowed him to carry a large amount of spare ammunition and Noah knew that in the middle of a gunfight there was no such thing as too much ammo. Because of this, he began to greedily stuff his pockets with extra magazines, Noah's cautions greed was only strengthened by the fact that he didn't know what kind of fight the Ma-Ma clan was leading him to.

* * *

The .223 caliber cartridge is probably more commonly known as 5.56x45mm to those of you using the metric system. I don't know anything about what units of measure they use in mega city 1, so I kinda just assumed they still use the weird mix of metric and Imperial units we use in the U.S


	2. Chapter 2

Ma-Ma watched Caleb lead the troops off to the street where they would head for the Atlantic Tower and make the clans presence known. He had taken most of the clan with him including the new recruits who would have their baptism by fire in service of the clan. With the boys gone Ma-Ma found herself alone on the 195th floor; alone except for the body of the man she had killed. He had stopped whimpering and now lay motionless, he looked dead to Ma-Ma but she saw that there was still blood pooling around his body.

She walked over to the body to look over the kid with greater focus, this proximity to him meant that Ma-Ma was standing in a pool of his blood, but she was undeterred and began to nudge him with her foot. Sure enough his body failed to respond and Ma-Ma knew for sure he was dead. There was time when she would have felt remorse for what she had done or at least Ma-Ma thought there was. That all changed the night her pimp had come home drunk and angry, Ma-Ma needed only one look at him to tell he was dangerous to everyone in his current state, especially her. She did her best to avoid him but the small apartment she shared with him didn't give her much space to go to.

She couldn't remember much about what justification he offered for his actions but Ma-Ma could remember what it felt like as he held her down and began to carve into the right side of her face with a dull knife. Because of the excruciating pain, the attack felt like it had taken hours but in reality it was over in a minute. Satisfied with his handiwork the pimp got off her and stumbled to his bed where he passed out almost immediately thanks to his inebriation.

For nearly an hour Ma-Ma lay where he had left her, too stunned to act, but as that hour came to an end the shock wore off and the pain of her injuries came to front of her mind. Her pain sparked an intense rage in her and with her anger came the idea of revenge. Ma-Ma didn't care what his motivations were, at the moment she didn't even care about what her face looked like, all she cared about was getting back at him and making sure that he knew what he had done to her was the last mistake of his life.

Ma-Ma left the apartment with her face still dripping blood in search of Caleb; Caleb was then a soldier in her pimp's criminal enterprise and occasionally one of her of John's. Caleb had during moments of intimacy, criticized the pimp's leadership and even voiced concerns about his mental stability. The look of shock that came over Caleb's face when he first saw Ma-Ma and the uncharacteristically soft way he said "Madi" convinced her that she could get him involved in her plan for revenge. Together they headed back to the apartment where Ma-Ma had been attacked and stopped outside the door.

"Wait here till you hear screaming, then come in shooting."Caleb nodded his head in response while he drew his pistol from its holster.

Ma-Ma's pimp woke to the sensation of her lips around him, looking down his body he saw the unlikely sight of the woman he had just mutilated using her mouth to pleasure him. Ma-Ma saw that she had gotten his attention and made sure to lock eyes with him just before she bit down. In all her life she had never heard a man scream as loudly as he did then. With the deed done, Ma-Ma leaned back and smiled at him with blood dripping out of her mouth. Soon afterwards she heard the footfalls of Caleb approaching her from behind before he raised his pistol and fired a single shot, silencing the pimps screaming forever.

Ma-Ma left her former pimp's mutilated body behind her with the realization that she had thoroughly enjoyed her revenge and the act of violence it had been built around, that discovery aided her in takeover of his syndicate. In as little as two days Ma-Ma had complete control of his operation, thanks in part to Caleb's loyalty to her and the many gang soldiers who followed him and the grisly murder of the men that resisted her rise to power.

The dead body she stood over now was just one more in a long line of corpses created by Ma-Ma. While she had killed the boy to assert dominance that didn't mean she didn't enjoy it or get a rush out of it. Even today with a good amount of time as a crime boss under her belt, Ma-Ma still felt a rush of adrenaline course through her with every life that she took.

No longer interested by the sight at her feet, Ma-Ma headed for the elevator and left a trail of bloody footprints behind her. As the elevator climbed up to her home on the 200th floor, Ma-Ma felt the result of her adrenaline rush in the form of extreme jitters. Her hands shook and she found it difficult to stand still, to combat this Ma-Ma dug a slow-mo inhaler out of her pocket.

**I am the law!**

Even through the disconnect that came from watching something on video the attack was a brutal sight, the Techie felt his stomach lurch and looked away from the monitor displaying Ma-Ma's knife attack. He had seen this before of course; she seemed to relish committing violent acts like he had just seen especially when it served as a warning to the clan.

Unable to bear looking at the chaos occurring on the 195th floor the Techie went about the job Ma-Ma had given him and skimmed through the thousands of security feeds in Peach Trees. After ten minutes of fear fueled vigilance the Techie found nothing of interest till the system informed him of an elevator having arrived on the 200th floor. The Techie brought up the video of the hallway just outside his room and saw Ma-Ma step out of the lift. He felt an instinctive pang of fear just at the sight of her, but when he saw her stop just outside his door the feeling of terror only intensified. The Techie only just closed the video feed before she stepped into his room.

**I am the law!**

By the time the lift had reached the 200th floor, the time altering trip of slow-mo had worn off, but the euphoric afterglow that made colors more vibrant and put her in a more passive mood was still in effect. Ma-Ma knew from experience that her current state would last for about an hour unless of course she took another hit of slow-mo; which she probably would.

Times like this when the majority of her boys were out trying to expand her empire were at least the partial cause of her current addiction to slow-mo. While Ma-Ma had been very busy during her initial rise to power, now that she was on top and she had left most of the small decision to trusted men like Caleb and a few other lieutenants. Ma-Ma found the majority of her time everyday feeling empty and she had turned to drugs for recreation, after a couple weeks of hard use she now thought of the drug as a necessity to combat boredom.

The trouble was that substance abuse alone wasn't enough to keep the mind busy; Ma-Ma would have to find something to occupy her thoughts. As she moved towards her apartment Ma-Ma tried to think of something to entertain herself with, but before she could make it to her home she noticed the incessant whine of cooling fans coming from the Techie's room and stopped outside of his door. She could remember when Caleb had brought the kid to her, he was so obviously terrified of her that she could tell that he was pleading for his life when he said that he could help the clan take over Peach Tress security network and camera feeds. Rather than seeing his fear as a sign of weakness Ma-Ma saw it as a sign of intelligence, plenty of men had tried to prove they were tough guys in front of her, a smaller number had even voiced their displeasure of at taking orders from a woman. Those guys hadn't lasted long in the clan.

Ma-Ma decided to roll the dice with the kid and locked him in a room with enough hardware to do what he had promised her. By the end of the day he had delivered on what he had promised and she kept him around since he had become useful to her and the clan. Over the next couple weeks Ma-Ma found that her decision to keep the kid alive more than paid off, his constant watch over Peach Tress gave the Ma-Ma clan a huge advantage over the three other gangs vying for dominance over the block. Thanks to the Techie it was impossible for the other gangs to attack without Ma-Ma seeing it coming and her hit squads always seemed to attack the other gangs when they were at their most vulnerable.

Feeling a desire to check in on her syndicate and the tower that housed it, Ma-Ma opened the door to the Techie's room and was met with a wall of warm air thanks to the excess heat generated by all the computers and server racks. The Techie was seated in front of the massive monitor on her desk, even with his back turned to her Ma-Ma could tell the kid was tense which meant that he was aware of her presence. Ma-Ma liked his reaction to her, the kid was hardly the only person in Peach Trees that was afraid of her but he did such a poor job of disguising his fear that Ma-Ma got a kick out of it.

With a sudden realization Ma-Ma saw that she had found her source of entertainment. While she had originally entered the Techie's room with the purpose of checking up on the block, she now saw another purpose for the Techie. Screwing with him and cultivating his terror not only fed Ma-Ma's ego but she just found it fun.

Now content to taunt the kid to kill some time, Ma-Ma strolled up to just behind him. He flinched when she put a hand on his shoulder and Ma-Ma felt a smile grow on her lips at such an obvious display of fear. Ma-Ma couldn't really blame him for his reaction to her touch, after all she had gouged out his eyes and forced him to get implants simply to make him a more effective sentry for the clan.

With a hand still clutching his shoulder Ma-Ma asked as she had earlier in the day "Anything I should know about"

"No" he responded loudly.

Ma-Ma knew that he was terrified at the moment and probably having trouble controlling the volume of his voice because of it, so she didn't take it as a sign of disrespect.

"No, Ma" he started again sounding much calmer even though it was obvious he was still afraid. "Everything still looks good."

Satisfied with his answer Ma-Ma let go of his shoulder and took a step back away from him. She swore she saw his body posture relax slightly when she released him and Ma-Ma was now convinced that physical contact was an easy way to frighten the Techie and entertain herself, which meant that she would be repeating incidents like this.

Without any more reason to speak to the Techie, Ma-Ma's attention drifted from him to the room they were both in. The small room that was very close to her own served not only as the clan's nerve center but also as the Techie's living space and there were numerous small decorations and aesthetic touches that gave the small room a personality. Above their heads were strands of copper wire that had been strung across the room along with some small blue lights that glowed with extra luster to Ma-Ma's slow-mo affected eyes. On his desk was more copper wire, only the wire had been twisted into particular shapes like small statues. Moving to the right of the Techie Ma-Ma stood by a large assemblage of the small figurines that had been arranged on his desk. Ma-Ma picked up one of the small bundles of wire that had been shaped into a four legged animal that had likely been extinct for centuries.

While Ma-Ma held the small animal up to her eye for a closer look she noticed that he was looking up at her, perhaps nervous of what she would do with his creation. In response Ma-Ma stared right back at him which caused the Techie to look away immediately since he didn't dare lock eyes with her. Looking back at the small figure Ma-Ma came to the conclusion that the bundles of twisted wire and all the other decorative touches to the room were likely a way to avoid boredom. She knew that his day consisted of nothing more than sitting in his chair and watching the security feeds. Since the other three gangs in Peach Tress had been wiped out and the clan controlled everything, there was likely very little for him to watch for, and report to her.

To Ma-Ma it was more obvious than ever that the Techie was unlike any of the other men in her gang. While she and the rest of her boys turned to acts of violence and substance abuse for entertainment, The Techie busied himself with creative and decretive touches to his space.

Acting on a new found curiosity for the man to her left, Ma-Ma looked over to him and asked "What's your name."

The Techie looked in her direction but refused to meet her eyes, "Kevin" he answered meekly.

At first it felt odd that she didn't all ready know his name, he had already been in his current situation for months but then again she was really only a first name basis with Caleb and a few of her more trusted lieutenants. For the most part she could have cared less what one of her boys name was, but then Techie was far less expendable than most.

"Well, Kevin" she said with forced contempt in her voice just to keep him on edge, "Keep watching, I don't need a fucking Judge walking into my block unannounced."

"Right Ma" he answered sounding pathetically obedient.

With no further purpose in the small room, Ma-Ma headed for the door but before she left Ma-Ma took a glance back behind her at Kevin and all his creations. She knew that his day to day life was boring but in light of the way he reacted to her presence and touch and how much she enjoyed it, she could promise his days were going to be more eventful even if he didn't want them to be.


	3. Chapter 3

I got to say if Slow-Mo was a real drug I'd probably into it, sure it seams like the type of drug that would eat brain cells, but come on, slow motion is awesome. I'd be jumping around like Max Payne the whole time or perhaps more accurately like Chow Yun Fat in a John Woo movie...anyway that's enough of my rambling, Now onto my equally incoherent story.

* * *

 

Riding in a small van that was only one in a large convoy of vehicles stolen by the Ma-Ma clan, Noah tried to listen to Caleb who was seated in the front row explain that they were going to attack the gang that controlled the Atlantic tower. The Ma-Ma clan had been attempting to sell slow-mo in that block but the gang there was less than thrilled by the idea of their tenants funding Ma-Ma. In response Ma-Ma had ordered her boys to attack the Atlantic tower and kill all the opposing gang members on the first floor as a message.

While on their way there Noah had a slow-mo inhaler thrust into his hand, while he had heard of the new drug, this was the first time he had seen it in person. The vial contained a strange colored liquid and he noticed the heart shape that had had been stamped on the little device, so that there could be no doubt as to who made the cities hottest drug. Although Noah felt nervous about using the new drug, the rest of the men he was riding with clearly were not since they all took hits of the intoxicating vapor. Made at ease, by everyone else's indulgence Noah brought the inhaler to his lips and breathed in, at once the world slowed and Noah was stunned at how quickly the drug took effect. While they had been driving through the city at close to seventy mph, Noah was able to look out a window and stare at pedestrians long enough to see what clothes they were wearing, even what color hair and eyes they had. Normally they would have been nothing more than a blur but thanks to the drug he was able to take in so much detail and Noah's opinion of slow-mo had gone from suspicious to positive.

Suddenly Noah felt the van slow down and he and all the other men in the van with him were thrown forward as the vehicle came to a stop. Looking to his right Noah saw that they were just outside the Atlantic tower and there were two men dressed in all blue just a few feet from their van. Noah knew that the Atlantic gang wore blue in honor of the color the ocean had once been so he and all the other Ma-Ma clan goons raised their weapons. Thanks to the drug it felt like an eternity before Noah was able to shoulder his rifle and fire through the side window. When the first round went off, Noah was nearly stupefied by the muzzle flash; while he had handled more than a few rifles in his time this was the first time he had used a gun under the effects of slow-mo and he found that anything that produced light was dazzling to him. Another strange effect of slow-mo was that even on full automatic fire he was able to feel the recoil impulse of each individual round that went off, even the mechanical action of the weapon was noticeable to him as the rifle fired off a projectile, ejected the spent case and stripped off a new cartridge from the magazine.

With this new level of focus Noah was able to keep his rifle under a level control in full automatic that he had never had before. This control paid off in the catastrophic damage it caused in the two unlucky Atlantic gang members who were torn to shreds by the bullets from Noah's weapon and the rest of the Ma-Ma clan.

With the two men dead Noah felt the time altering effect wear off and he slowly became aware of the fact that his ears were ringing since he had made the mistake of discharging a firearm inside the enclosed space of a van. Doing his best to ignore the suffering of his ears Noah hoped out of the vehicle and joined the small army of Ma-Ma clan goons being lead by Caleb into the mega block. As the large group of men moved closer to the entrance Noah felt a cautious fear wash over him and he loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle.

The Ma-Ma clan entered the first floor of the Atlantic tower, which was a combination shopping mall and food court, and were immediately spotted by a ten man group of goons in blue. The men in blue began to fire on the on the group of armed men that had entered their turf and the Ma-Ma clan responded in kind. Soon the gang in blue wound up taking cover behind a waist high wall that served as a divider between the food court and the rest of the first floor. The Ma-Ma clan spread out and used the numerous kiosks in the mall section for cover. Thanks to their superior numbers the clan was able to put enough fire on the Atlantic clan members to pin them down. Noah recognized that his side was at an advantage as long as the men in blue were forced to hide behind the wall, so he made sure to keep the pressure on them by peeking out of cover and firing off short bursts over their heads.

With a large group of men shooting it out in the concrete structure that echoed every shot, Noah was hard pressed to hear anything over the sound of gun shots but every once in while he heard someone screaming. Noah took a look behind and saw Caleb moving behind the action and directing the fire of the largely inexperienced new recruits. Eventually Caleb came to the kiosk Noah and one of the other guys with gang experience had been using for cover.

Shouting even though he was standing next to them Caleb said "We got those fuckers pinned. Find a way around and kill them!"

Noah peeked out from behind his cover and saw that the waist high wall the Atlantic gang was hiding behind formed a rough square around the food court. If he moved far enough to the right side of the square he could flank them. Noah tapped his comrade on the shoulder and pointed towards the wall he intended to move to. The seasoned gang soldier nodded his head in understanding and followed Noah's mad dash to his next piece of cover. While he knew the likelihood of being hit was low, since there were so many people shooting at the men in blue, Noah ran as quickly as he could to try to avoid presenting himself as a target. When they were close enough, Noah and his fellow gang member dove behind the concrete barrier. The two men took a moment to catch their breath before they stood up and fired on the ten Atlantic gang members they had flanked. Between the two of them they gunned down four of the men in blue before they crouched down behind cover again.

The surviving Atlantic gangsters having realized that they were now taking fire from two different directions, tried to get up and reposition themselves behind better cover, but were immediately cut down by the wall of lead coming from the rest of Ma-Ma clan. After seeing that every one of them had been killed, Noah stood up and gestured to the clan by dragging a finger across his neck. Slowly but surely the gunfire died down as word spread that the enemy was dead.

Tentatively the clan came out from behind their cover as did Caleb who walked over to where the Atlantic gang bodies lied before he spoke. "Alright, everybody Spread out and search this floor for anyone else wearing blue, if you find anyone kill them."

After loading a new magazine into his rifle Noah did exactly that. He saw a small door in between two shops and moved towards it to investigate, he couldn't say why but Noah had a feeling that there was something of interest behind it. When he came within a few feet of the door he saw it being pushed open from the other side and a man dressed in all blue peaked out. The man behind the door took one look at Noah, who was approaching him with an assault rifle in his hands and slammed the door shut. Noah wasted no time and began to shoot into the door since he was confident that the rounds would perforate the door and kill anyone on the other side.

The rest of the clan heard Noah's gunshots and converged on the door in anticipation of further fighting. Noah continued towards the door nervously, he wasn't sure what he would find on the other side but he hoped it wasn't more guys from the Atlantic gang. When he finally reached the door and flung it open, Noah found that it opened up to a storage closet meant to house janitorial equipment and the only gang member inside was the man he had killed.

Noah stepped into the oversized broom closet feeling need to investigate. There was nothing out of the ordinary inside except for three large rectangular crates. As he stood over one of the large containers, Noah found the two latches that kept the crate sealed and undid them before he lifted the top half of the crate up. Inside the crate was a large weapon based around the distinctive multi barreled design of the Gatling gun. Unlike the original weapon from the 19th century, this was a modern update that was powered by an electric motor that allowed the weapon to fire at terrifyingly high rate of fire but still avoid overheating. Along with the weapon in each crate there was also a large box of ammunition. The ammo cans were marked .50 BMG API, and Noah let out an impressed whistle, the ammunition the weapon fired was every bit as terrifying as the gun itself.

Eventually it occurred to Noah that he should tell the rest of the clan about what he had found and he left the storage room. Noah spotted Caleb near the pile of dead Atlantic gang members where he was directing one of the Ma-Ma clan in spray painting a large heart on the ground next to the dead men. Next Caleb tossed a slow-mo inhaler into the middle of the heart so that there could be no mistaking who had attacked them and why.

"Caleb" Noah called out nervously as he wasn't sure how the older man would react to him calling him over.

Thankfully Caleb simply came over to Noah and followed him back to the storage room where Noah showed him the three massive machine guns. At the sight of them Caleb simply smiled and said "Yeah, we can use these."

**I am the law!**

It had already been twenty minutes since she had left and his heart was still pounding, Kevin couldn't help it Ma-Ma was more vicious then most men and he was terrified of her. Another factor that made her especially frightening was that unlike most of the clan's goons who had to answer to Ma-Ma for any mistakes they might make, Ma-Ma was the boss and could do whatever she pleased. If she decided one day to simply stroll into his room and slice his throat open, there wouldn't be anything he could do to stop her. That fact served to make the moments when she stood behind him all the more frightening.

Kevin took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, and tried to think about his current situation in another way. He had already been in the clan for five months, if Ma-Ma had wanted to kill him, he would be dead already. The fact was that he had a role to fulfill and as long as he continued to be useful to the clan he would be kept alive. When he thought about it, Ma-Ma had even invested money into him to better his performance as the clan's eyes. His new eyes and the surgery he had undergone for them had not been cheap. This meant that Kevin likely had a substantial monetary value to the clan, which was nice since it kept him alive but at the same time made him feel like a piece of meat.

The irony was that if anyone in the clan understood his situation it was probably Ma-Ma, the former prostitute. She had spent years of her life as the property of her pimp who put a monetary value on her time and body. Kevin wouldn't want to trade places with a hooker but he saw parallels between himself and a prostitute. Once a hooker became too old or no longer physically attractive, she no longer had any value and could be disposed off. Kevin was similar in the sense that if he could no longer function as the clan's tech head and watch dog, he no longer had anything of value to offer Ma-Ma since he couldn't hack it as a goon.

Eventually the subject of his potential disposability became too much to take and Kevin's attention went back to his job as he began to peruse the thousands of security feeds. Suddenly the automated system that helped the Techie keep an eye on the block alerted him and brought up the feed of just outside Peach Trees. There was a large group of men heading towards the building and when Kevin zoomed in on the group he spotted Caleb leading them. Recognizing that Caleb had returned from his attack along with most of the clan, Kevin got up from his chair to tell Ma-Ma.

**I am the law!**

As Ma-Ma lounged on her bed and stared out on the city, she watched the sun set as it slowly descended from the sky and fell behind the mega blocks. With the sun partially obscured, orange beams of light shot through the city and for a short time Mega City One was an uplifting sight. Ma-Ma had never bought into the notion that sunsets were romantic, she didn't even really care for the color orange, but still it was one of the few natural spectacles to be seen from inside the city.

Her concentration on the giant burning ball of gas in the sky broke when Ma-Ma heard the sound of someone climbing up the stairs to her bedroom. Out of the stairwell emerged the Techie who as always looked petrified while just being near her. "Ma, Caleb and all the guys are back."

Curious to see how the attack had gone, Ma-Ma got up from her bed and took in a deep breath in an effort to get in the right mindset to lead her boys. The Techie, who apparently no longer had any reason to be in her room turned to descend the stairs but halted when he heard Ma-Ma quietly say "Kevin."

Ma-Ma walked towards him, making sure to lock eyes with him and as she had expected he broke eye contact and looked at his feet. "Did you really have to barge into my room just to tell me that" Ma-Ma asked in an angry and accusing tone.

Ma-Ma wasn't really upset with him, if anything she was glad to get the information, but he didn't know that, which meant that she could have some fun with him.

"I'm sorry" he stammered "I thought you would want to know"

Ma-Ma gave no response but simply looked up at him with the emotionless glare that came naturally to her ever since her rise to power. Stopping just a few feet in front of him, Ma-Ma continued the silent glare which began to have an effect on the nervous Techie; she quite enjoyed the sight of a young man that was several inches taller than her whimpering in fear because of her. Slowly Ma-Ma reached up behind Kevin's head and for a brief moment caressed the back of his head before she grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked downwards. The Techie hissed in pain but didn't dare do anything to resist her.

"Hold out your hand Kevin" Ma-Ma demanded.

With an obvious shake to his limbs the Techie extended his left arm as if any hand he offered her wouldn't be coming back.

Ma-Ma reached into her pocket with her free hand and pulled out a prepaid care with a healthy amount of credits still on it and then placed into the Techies open hand. She released his hair and then spoke to him. "Go get something to eat Kevin."

The Techie looked at the card in his hand in disbelief before he regained a small amount of composure and said "Thank you Ma-Ma" and left her room.

Ma-Ma could tell from his face just before Kevin had left, that what had just happened was nearly incomprehensible to him. That was fine by Ma-Ma, since she occasionally liked to defy people's expectations of her, not to mention she knew first hand that you couldn't control people with the threat of death forever, eventually they just stop fearing death. It was better to offer a reward occasionally, especially to men. Ma-Ma knew that for the most part men are simple creatures that usually responded well to any kind of reward or positive reinforcement. Typically she rewarded her boys with a generous amount of slow-mo even if it would sometimes cut into the amount they sold for profit, but it was worth it for loyal soldiers. The trouble with the Techie was that he had no interest in the drug which necessitated a different type of reward.

* * *

Kind of a lot of gun porn in this chapter, sorry about that, but for clarification .50 BMG means Browning machine gun which is 12.7x99 in the metric system, and API stands for Armor piercing incendiary cause if a half inch rifle bullet wasn't scary enough they also make ones with a tungsten core that's surrounded by an incendiary compound. I always wondered where the clan got those three mini guns they tried to use against Dredd so I figured that maybe they obtained them as the spoils of a gang war or something and judging by the way those guns chewed through concrete walls I assumed they had to be firing something really heavy. I realize Dredd is set roughly a hundred years in the future so those guns were probably supposed to be shooting some futuristic new cartridge but I thought why not put a real world touch into it.


	4. Chapter 4

The mood among the returning troops was jubilant; the clan had killed thirteen of the Atlantic gang without a single loss of their own. Another plus for the clan was finding the three Gatling guns, which would add to the already impressive assortment of weapons owned by the clan. Even though he was one of the unlucky few that had to lug the large crates into Peach Trees, Noah was confident that his performance during the firefight and the subsequent finding of the new weapons had earned him good standing with his new gang.

**I am the law!**

"We got thirteen of them and I left a message for them so there's no chance they won't know who hit them."

"How many did we lose" Ma-Ma asked, sounding less than concerned.

A cocky grin grew on Caleb's face before he spoke, "None, we got the drop on them and we came in with overwhelming force. We didn't lose anyone."

"I want people dealing at Atlantic tower by tomorrow and I want it to be a heavy presence in case they didn't get the message."

Caleb nodded his head in agreement and left Ma-Ma's room to organize the force headed for Atlantic tower.

By the time her exchange with Caleb had ended the sun had finished setting and Ma-Ma sat down on her bed which was flanked by two night stands covered in Pill bottles, alcohol and slow-mo inhalers. Thanks to her frequent substance abuse Ma-Ma's sleep schedule was anything but consistent and she felt ready to start nodding off even though the sun had just set. In her earlier days as a "working girl" Ma had always worked nights and after a few years she had become practically nocturnal. When she came to power she no longer needed to keep a schedule and the availability of Drugs meant that there were days where she simply ran off slow-mo till she collapsed on her bed and passed out. She knew that she would be waking up to a headache and a painfully empty stomach, but she made no effort to resist the encroaching desire to sleep.

**I am the law!**

He couldn't wrap his head around it, the idea that Ma-Ma would ever offer anything other than pain and the threat of violence ran contrary to all that he had learned in the last five months. In an act of cynicism, Kevin went to his room and ran Ma-Ma's gift through a card reader and found that it still had several thousand credits on it. Kevin was stunned, not only had she given him money but she had given a very generous amount of credits and he was in the unfamiliar position of having spending money.

In the five months he had spent in the clan Kevin had gotten by on just three different changes of clothes and all his food had come from the shops that gave their product away to Ma-Ma clan members in return for the "Protection" the clan offered. Now that he had a healthy amount of credits on him he could get some new clothes, but right then he was hungry and he could finally get something different to eat instead of simply taking what he could get.

Typically Kevin didn't like to leave the relative safety of the 200th floor once the sun had set but the sirens call of new food and clothes drew him into a service elevator that took him down to the lower levels where the mega blocks shops were located. His first stop was a small restaurant he had been forced to ignore for a long time no matter how enticing the smells that came out of it were. Now thanks to Ma-Ma's bizarre act of generosity he could afford to eat his fill of the food that had been tempting him for months.

The satisfaction of a full stomach was short lived for Kevin since as soon as he stepped out of the small restaurant he was hit by a viscous punch to the face. The blow to head was a complete shock that left him in a daze and in his stunned state it was next to impossible to resist the man that moved behind him and wrapped an arm around his neck in a choke hold.

"So" the mugger spoke as he tightened his hold around Kevin's neck. "I don't think you would be coming out of that shop unless you had some credits on you."

Having realized what his attacker was after Kevin pulled the card out of his pocket and held it out for the mugger to see. The man took the card from Kevin's hand before he shoved the Techie to the round and gave him a hard kick to the stomach which knocked the air out of Kevin's lungs.

By the time Kevin regained his breath and stood up his mugger had been long gone. He was still in a good amount of pain but he had certainly felt worse in the past so he was able to stumble back to the elevator that would carry him back up the 200th floor. Kevin knew that he was lucky to be still alive since the thief easily could have just slit his throat but he still felt disappointed for losing the card. The credit card that had come from Ma-Ma from of all people had been the first good thing to happen to him in years. As the elevator made its upward journey and Kevin rubbed the sore part of his face that had been punched, he became aware of huge potential problem for himself.

What if Ma-Ma came and asked for her card back? He didn't have it and he didn't get a look at his attacker so he couldn't tell her who had it. He supposed that he could look it up on the security feeds and get a picture of the thief but he had misgivings about that. Snitches didn't last long in a school playground let alone a criminal enterprise. He didn't like it but Kevin knew that he alone would have to deal with the repercussions of losing Ma-Ma's money.

Now he had to worry about whether he should tell her or not, there was the chance that Ma-Ma didn't care about the card and that she wouldn't be asking for it back, but Kevin worried about whether she would. He was certain that if she asked for it back when he didn't have it, she would be displeased. If he was upfront with her and just told her what happened there was a chance that she would be more merciful with him but Kevin knew that the likelihood of receiving any mercy form Ma-Ma was slim.

**I am the law!**

As she had expected, Ma-Ma woke with a splitting headache and a painfully empty stomach. After forcing herself to sit up in bed, Ma-Ma looked to the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was 2 A.M; it was by no means unusual that she would wake in the middle of the night. In fact Ma-Ma never slept through the night, but simply nodded off for a few hours whenever her drug laden body allowed it.

The remedy to her pain was a few prescription painkillers, but she knew that she wasn't doing her stomach or the rest of her body any favors unless she got something to eat as well. After a night time breakfast, Ma-Ma felt awake enough to know that there was no chance of her going back to sleep. With going back to bed no longer an option she sat in the quiet seclusion of her room pondering the activities of her clan.

If all went according to plan, the clan would soon be selling slow-mo in the Atlantic tower which meant they would have thousands of new potential customers. This new market had the potential to substantially add to the clan's income. With more credits, they could increase production of slow-mo which in turn meant more credits; with that train of thought it was hard not to fantasize about controlling the city.

Ma-Ma knew the potential pitfalls from thinking such thoughts, Caleb had warned her numerous times of the danger of expanding too fast. It would be easy to fall into the trap of spreading out to new parts of the city when her foothold of her current turf wasn't strong enough. Ma-Ma accepted that and agreed with Caleb's caution for another reason. If by some luck the Ma-Ma clan became the cities dominant gang, it would only bring her the misfortune that came from the attention of law enforcement.

As she stood up from her seat Ma-Ma came to the conclusion that it was best to just let things play out at their current speed. Under Caleb's supervision the clan would continue to sell slow-mo in the Atlantic tower and soon the people there would become hooked on the drug their gang couldn't provide for them. In that situation it would only be a matter of time till the Atlantic clan lost the support of its people. Without any support at home it would be easy for the Ma-Ma clan to slowly squeeze the Atlantic gang till they simply disbanded. This plan would be safer for her boys, not that she was concerned for their safety she just didn't want to have to go out and get replacements again.

Now content to let things be Ma-Ma climbed down the stairs that lead to her bedroom and entered the extra large bathroom that only her suite on the top floor had. As her tub filled with water Ma-Ma made certain that she would have a slow-mo inhaler within reach, she had found that the drug made bathing far more entertaining.

**I am the law!**

Ordinarily he would have been asleep this time of night but after being robbed and then having to worry about Ma-Ma becoming angry with him for losing her money; Kevin felt far too stressed to sleep. Instead he plopped himself down in front of the monitor and hoped that doing his job would somehow spare him from Ma-Ma's rage. At first he found nothing of interest but then he noticed something suspicious on the 51st floor. Two men were standing in front of an open apartment and speaking to each other. Soon after he saw them exchange something; zooming in on their hands he saw that a slow-mo inhaler had been exchanged for credits.

A drug deal was anything but unusual in Peach Trees but there was something that felt off to Kevin. Switching to another camera's perspective that was inside the apartment, Kevin was able to see the back of the man selling the slow-mo. After zooming in on the man's back he saw that there was no Ma-Ma heart tag on his neck. While the Techie had never been involved in the clan's drug trade, even he knew that dealing slow-mo in Peach Trees without being in the clan was a big problem.

Having realized that what he was seeing would be of interest to Ma-Ma, Kevin switched back to the previous camera and made sure to get a clean still image of the unsanctioned dealers face. He knew that telling Ma-Ma would likely lead to that man's death but Kevin was too concerned about his own well being to care about someone else. Right then He needed a distraction and an example of the benefit of him keeping his job. Kevin couldn't think very highly of himself for what he was going to do but in his current situation it was impossible to get away from the mentality of better him than me.

**I am the law!**

After her bath Ma-Ma was once again faced with the need to kill some time. It was still very early in the morning and it would be sometime till Caleb and the most the clan would be awake. Until then she would simply have to wait for an update of how things were going in the Atlantic Tower. Now fully awake she would have to keep herself busy for the next couple of hours. Ma-Ma left her home and headed towards her new favorite source of entertainment, she had no clue as to whether the kid would be awake or not, but Ma-Ma was sure that having him wakeup while she stood over him would scare him senseless.

She stood outside his door listening for any signs of life, soon after she heard the distinctive chatter of practiced hands using a keyboard. Opening the door as slowly as and as quietly as she could, Ma-Ma stepped into the Techie's room without making a noise. Judging by the way that the kid was staring intently at his monitor, she guessed that he was unaware of her prescience.

Rather than letting him know that she had entered his room by speaking to him, Ma-Ma strolled up behind him quietly and watched him work. Ma-Ma tried to see what the Techie was working on but she knew that a lot of the information that was keeping him preoccupied was only visible on his ocular implants.

Now very curious as to what had him so absorbed Ma-Ma decided to find out and screw with his head while she was at it. Leaning forward so that she could press into his back, Ma-Ma rested her chin onto of his right shoulder causing the Techie to flinch in surprise. Next she draped her left arm overtop of his and left her left hand to rest on top of his. In her right hand Ma-Ma held a knife that she dragged across his right forearm with just enough force to scratch the skin. Eventually the knife came to a stop when the tip of the blade fell between his fingers. For a short time neither of them spoke, Ma-Ma just held her place and enjoyed the feeling of him literally shaking in fear because of her.

"Ma" he spoke with a shaky voice, "I think you should see this."

Ma-Ma said nothing in response but simply let out a quiet yawn, as if her current situation was a common occurrence. On the large monitor a video started, showing a man in his late twenties hand something to another man. "That guy lives on the 51st floor and he's selling slow-mo."

"So" Ma-Ma questioned, not understanding why he had thought this was worth her attention.

The Techie reached towards the keyboard with his left hand, which Ma-Ma allowed him to move and pressed a single key. A different video came up, showing the same man only from behind.

"He's not in the clan" the Techie said nervously although Ma-Ma thought she heard a hint of confidence in his voice. The video zoomed in on the man's neck showing that there was no Ma-Ma heart there.

Now she understood why he had brought this to her attention. Ever since its inception, slow-mo had become synonymous with the Ma-Ma clan and that was the way Ma-Ma liked it since it meant that she was the only one that benefited from the drugs sale. The idea that someone could get slow-mo from anywhere other than the clan had to be stamped out immediately.

Ma-Ma was now glad he had told her what was happening but that didn't mean he had to know that, instead Ma-Ma simply asked "can you print me a picture of him"

"Sure" he said sounding all too eager to please thanks to her strange closeness and the knife play.

Ma-Ma released Kevin from her hold and sheathed her knife before she walked over to the printer that had finished spitting out the image of a man she would soon have put to death. She didn't recognize the man in the picture which Ma-Ma knew was a long shot given the enormous number of people in her block, but still she tried to place him and remember if he had ever had any dealings with clan. Ma-Ma came up with nothing and was then certain that the Techie was right. The man in the pictures was dealing slow-mo without her permission and that had to be stopped.

Ma-Ma folded the picture up and pocketed it for later before she turned her attention back to the Techie. His focus still appeared to be on the large monitor in front of him, which radiated light back onto his face. It was then that Ma-Ma noticed a slight discoloration around his right eye. Ma-Ma strolled back next to Kevin before she took hold of his chin in her right hand and then less than gently turned his face towards hers. The kid had a very large and very swollen black eye that looked painful, then again Ma-Ma reasoned if there was anyone that could cope with pain in the eyes it was him.

Still the kid had sustained injury and it hadn't come from her, Ma-Ma was less than keen on having one of the keys to the clan's security being brutalized unnecessarily. "What happened to you" Ma-Ma asked him, sounding annoyed and as if this was just one more problem she had to deal with. With her hand still holding him the kid couldn't look away but she noticed that he refused to meet her eyes.

"That uh, card you gave me, I lost it."

"Lost it" Ma-Ma repeated in disbelief.

"I mean…" he started again sounding petrified as he always did. "Someone took it from me."

Having found his second explanation far more likely Ma-Ma released him and stood next to him silently. She had forgotten about the money she had given him until he had brought it up and judging by his voice he probably thought she would be angry with him. In actuality Ma-Ma couldn't bring herself to care about the card. The amount of credits she had given him was a pittance compared to what the clan pulled in from even just one day of slow-mo sales.

"I'm sorry" she heard him say to break the silence, In return Ma-Ma just glared at him in annoyance. She didn't need his pathetic apology, not that she told him that, she just wanted him to do his job and not have to worry about his well being. It was annoying that he had ended up in danger but she knew it wasn't his fault; there were plenty of idiots in the clan that would turn on each other for petty amounts of cash.

Ma-Ma reached out and grabbed hold of the Techie's head again to inspect his wounds with greater focus. The ocular implants she had given to him or forced him to take had been expensive and Ma-Ma wanted to make sure that the artificial eye surrounded by bruised tissue hadn't been damaged. The trouble was that the kid outright refused to look her in the eyes which made inspecting the implant impossible.

"Look at me" she commanded, and all but instantly he looked forward into her eyes. As per usual the kid was shaking in fear as she held onto him but Ma-Ma ignored it and leaned in closer to him to inspect the eye. She didn't understand how the device worked and she wouldn't know how to repair it if it was damaged, but Ma-Ma figured if his right eye looked the same as the left than it was probably still functioning normally.

Contented that her monetary investment in the Techie hadn't been damaged, Ma-Ma leaned back away from him but left her hand to cup his chin, since his obvious fear of her touch was too entertaining not too play with. With her eyes still locked onto his Ma-Ma began to caress his face with her thumb, making sure put extra pressure against his skin when her thumb ran over his bruises. The Techie let out a quiet grunt in pain, but did not say or do anything to resist her touch.

Ma-Ma had always enjoyed toying with people and after her first murder she had learned to like hurting people. Being a crime lord in a very large and violent criminal enterprise, she had many opportunities to enjoy herself especially ever since the clan had acquired the Techie. In a way the kid was the perfect target since his position of importance in the clan necessitated that she keep an eye on him and she could put her violent tendencies to use on him to ensure that he did his job.

There was something different about her current situation though, while she was causing Kevin discomfort and he was clearly terrified, the way she was touching him felt border line amorous to her. Ever since the previous day her interactions with him while still clearly threatening had taken on a strange affectionate tinge. Ma-Ma felt a discomforting confusion about her own actions and gave Kevin's head a slight shove away from her before she left his room without saying a word.


	6. Chapter 6

It wasn't the ideal sleeping arrangement, but it was definitely better than sleeping in the streets where it was easy to end up getting mugged or imprisoned by a judge. After the battle and moving the three large guns into Peach Tress, Noah had ended up in a large common room on the 200th floor that served as a makeshift barracks for the clan. Noah sat against a wall nursing a slow-mo inhaler that had become a dear friend to him since earlier in the day. He noticed that there had to be at least fifty other men in the room with him and he knew that there was roughly double that number spread out amongst the rest of the 200th floor. This meant that any would be assassin that came to the top floor would have to get through a small army to attack Ma-Ma. Of course that was assuming that anyone could reach the top floor, Noah knew that there were hundreds of more Ma-Ma clan soldiers on the lower levels, many of these men had their own apartments and even families.

The idea of having a family in Peach Tress made Noah shudder. As a single man he was under the threat of death if he made a mistake or betrayed the clan. A man with a family could very well lose children if they displeased Ma-Ma, and Noah found it hard to believe that people were trying to raise children under Ma-Ma's reign. Then again a lot those people probably had families before Ma-Ma rose to power, so they likely had no choice in the matter.

As he began to nod off for the night, Noah was suddenly very happy he had no friends or family, in the world of gangs those good things were only a liability.

**I am the law!**

Nightmares centered on Ma-Ma were nothing new, especially dreams about her taking his eyes. In dream the pain and horror of that incident was as vivid as the day it happened. The dream he had last night though was different and the Techie sat in bed still in an early morning daze trying to wrap his mind around the memory of his nightmare. It had started out like so many of his nightmares, with him in his room doing his best to perform the job Ma-Ma had given him. Then as usual Ma-Ma came into his room as well. From that point onward the dream was different. Instead of accusing him of betraying the clan or failing in his duties somehow which always preceded her attacking and mutilating him, MA-Ma simply walked up behind him and wrapped an arm around his chest. With her other arm, Ma-Ma grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled down causing him to raise his chin up and hiss in pain. While normally in both his dreams and reality this close proximity would be accompanied with implied threats or orders, Ma-Ma said nothing and began to nuzzle her face against his while she caressed him with the arm on his chest. Even in the dream Ma-Ma's touch and closeness frightened him but at the same time he felt a strange warmth run through him. After a short time Ma-Ma released him and moved to the right of where he sat. Finally she spoke to him and said "Look at me." Kevin obeyed her as he would have in the real world and locked eyes with Ma-Ma but unlike reality it wasn't torture to keep his eyes locked with hers. Instead he found himself lost in her dark green eyes and any of his normal feelings of terror just seemed to disappear as his dream drifted away.

To his horror Kevin woke up from his dream with a slight feeling of arousal, which was hard to take from a dream about his tormentor. He had no feelings for her or at least none of them were positive. He was terrified of the woman and in the immediate aftermath of her assault on his eyes he had fantasized about killing her. over time those thoughts of revenge had disappeared because of the Techie's benign nature and the realization that hurting MA-Ma in any way would be a death sentence, still he couldn't think of a single aspect of Ma-Ma he appreciated other than the way she protected him but he knew she did that for her own benefit.

In a disturbing revelation, the Techie saw that the older woman was the only female he had been in contact with in months, which would explain to some extent why he had begun to find her physically attractive, but it did little to alleviate the intense disgust and self loathing he felt towards himself.

**I am the law!**

Noah was woken up by a light kick to the ribs; he looked up to see a clan member he didn't know looking down on him.

"New guy, Caleb is looking for volunteers. We told him you were up for it."

"Gee, thanks.' Noah answered groggily as he forced himself to stand. Noah wasn't exactly happy about other people volunteering him for jobs but he recognized that as a new recruit in the gang he would be doing grunt work for some time to come.

In a sleepy daze Noah left the common room and came across Caleb who was quick to hand him a piece of paper. Noah looked down at the paper in his hands and saw that it was a picture of a man he didn't know.

"Ma wants him dead and anyone else you find in his apartment."

"Where…" Noah began but Caleb began to speak again.

"He lives on the 51st floor in apartment 312."

Noah was tempted to ask why Ma-Ma wanted the man dead but he knew that it didn't matter, plus he doubted that Caleb would tell him anyway.

**I am the law!**

The Techie sat in his chair that was as always positioned in front of the large monitor in an attempt to keep his mind on his job and not the deeply unsettling and confusing dream he had woken up with. After being awake for a few hours the memory of his dream began to fade away but his feelings of unease had persisted and there were plenty of things in the real world that would continue to feed his negative emotions. A major issue was the man Kevin had told Ma-Ma about. At the time the Techie had reported the man to her to distract her from the fact that he had lost some of her money but Ma-Ma had been indifferent to the lost cash which meant that he had ratted the drug dealer out for nothing.

Now Kevin felt an irresistible impulse to keep an eye on apartment 312 on the 51st floor. He knew Ma-Ma's style of conflict resolution well enough to know that soon there would be armed men heading for that apartment. Watching the chaos that would soon unfold would only make him feel guilty but he felt compelled to observe the consequence of his actions, plus if for any reason the situation got out of hand he would have to watch over it and tell Ma-Ma or Caleb.

Ten minutes later Kevin spotted an individual with a rifle in his hands approaching apartment 312. Soon after the man with the gun kicked in the apartment door and entered the apartment while shouldering his rifle. Kevin switched to another camera that gave him a view of inside the room. The unsanctioned dealer had been sitting on a couch in his home but had stood up when his door had been smashed in. The man with the gun wasted no time and fired off a short burst at the sight of his target. At such close range the excessive velocity of rifle bullets ripped the dealer to pieces, causing what was left of him to fall back onto his couch.

With the drug dealer dead, Kevin thought the incident was over but the man with the gun continued to search the apartment. This confused the Techie at first but soon after he realized that the man was still operating under Ma-Ma's orders since she very often sought revenge against not only the people that wronged her but their family as well. Room by room the man with the gun searched the apartment till he found a woman who immediately put her hands up in surrender. The woman was in her late twenties, probably close to the same age of the man that had broken into her apartment.

Although he didn't get any audio over the security feeds Kevin could tell that the woman was pleading for her life. The man looked conflicted but soon after he fired a single shot into the woman's head which left a small hole in her forehead and a much larger hole in the back of her skull. For a brief moment the man stood over his newest victim and looked down at his handiwork. Kevin saw the slumped shoulders and body language of a man that was not proud of what he had done. Nevertheless he had just killed two unarmed people in cold blood and Kevin wanted to make sure that he never crossed paths with the man on his security feeds. To accomplish this goal Kevin switched to another camera that covered the entrance to the apartment. When the armed man came to leave, Kevin got a clear shot of the man's face and took a still photo. With the photo saved onto local storage, Kevin committed his face to memory; there was already one crazy and cold hearted person in his life that couldn't be avoided, he was going to do his best to avoid this one.

**I am the law!**

She found Caleb on the 200th floor trying to keep the peace in the high testosterone and drug content area of the clan barracks. Caleb saw his leader and approached her, "Ma, that problem on the 51st floor has been taken care of and his apartments been cleaned out."

Ma-Ma nodded her head in approval before she spoke "We have a new problem."

"What"

"The kid that watches the security feeds has become a liability. He can't take care of himself and this block is full of enough fuck ups and idiots that he's bound to wind up dead eventually."

"What do you want to do about it?"

"He needs a baby sitter, someone that can just follow orders and keep the kid alive."

Caleb nodded his head in approval and said "people won't screw with someone that has a visibly armed bodyguard tailing him 24/7."

"Have anyone in mind for the job" asked Ma-Ma.

"One of the new guys has so far proven to be capable of following simple instructions."

"Alright, give him the job, but if he fucks it up…"

"I'll kill him myself" Caleb finished.

**I am the law!**

"The kid monitors all the blocks security cameras and helps us keep an eye on everyone" Caleb said to Noah as he led him to his newest job in the clan. "Your job is to protect him from all the idiots in the block that are too dumb realize who is."

Caleb stopped walking suddenly and turned to face Noah. "This job came down from Ma-Ma herself, so don't fuck it up."

In return Noah shook his head up and down.

**I am the law!**

He could tell by the sound of heavy footfalls and the brisk way that his door was flung open that it wasn't Ma-Ma that had entered his room. Caleb was the first to enter the Techie's room which was a little unusual but not unheard of. Kevin had in the past worked with Ma-Ma's favorite enforcer especially in the early days of the clan when they had forced Kevin to fight it out with competing gangs as a goon. Later on Kevin was given the job of monitoring the security feeds and relaying up to date information to Caleb, which only made him and his goon squads more dangerous.

The second man to enter his room was even more unexpected and the single person he wanted less to do with than even Ma-Ma. The man that he had watched murder two people in cold blood was now standing in front of him and Kevin felt an intense pang of fear run through rim that only Ma-Ma could match. Caleb turned to and addressed the man he had brought with him.

"This is him; keep him safe and well feed."

Kevin saw Caleb hand the man another prepaid card. "Ma wants this operation to continue to operate smoothly. One last thing, no one is allowed in this room other than me and Ma-Ma. Do you understand?"

"Yeah" the gunman answered before Caleb left the room and closed the door behind him. With the door closed Kevin came to the realization that this man that he was terrified of was now going to be his bodyguard. To Kevin it felt like fear was an inescapable aspect of his life that he would have to learn to deal with.

Eventually the man turned away from the door and faced Kevin. "Hey, man" the bodyguard said in a friendly tone while he laid his rifle up against the wall. Kevin wondered if it was the same weapon he had used to devastating effect on the 51st floor. "I'm Noah and I guess I'm your bodyguard" Noah extended a hand towards Kevin, inviting a handshake, which Kevin participated in nervously.

* * *

 

I'm sure this isn't news to anyone that has stuck it out and read all five chapters, but yeah I kind of have a thing for Lena Heady. I mean this is coming from a guy with green eyes himself but Lena's eyes are just gorgeous.


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